Hunt too young for Tests, says Bennett

Page Tools

Karmichael Hunt's prospects of gaining Test selection in his debut NRL season have been all but sunk, with Broncos and national coach Wayne Bennett suggesting the teenage fullback was too young for the coming Tri-Nations series.

Hunt, named rookie of the year at this week's DallyM awards, had the support of Queensland selectors Les Geeves and Arthur Beetson after the Herald revealed last week that he had declared his allegiances to Australia instead of New Zealand.

But fellow selector Bob McCarthy indicated that the young Bronco was unlikely to be chosen after Bennett publicly voiced his opposition yesterday.

Admitting that the 17-year-old had surpassed expectations by playing every match for the Broncos this season, Bennett said he would be better suited having an off-season than going on the seven-week tour of New Zealand, Britain, France and the US.

"I can't see why they would have to pick him, it doesn't make any sense to me actually," Bennett told radio station 2KY. "He's a kid who's going to be a great player for us in a decade's time. He should just have a break and be a 17-year-old rather than going away and trying to do a man's job like he has been doing all year.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

"K's going to get his chance but I don't think it will be now. Anthony Minichiello will be the first one picked and obviously he will need some back-up, but it's not like we're shallow in that position."

Told of Bennett's comments, McCarthy said: "I can't see why we need any back-up. 'Mini' is going to be the fullback in the Tests and there aren't really any other matches. We'll probably pick a winger or a centre who can cover fullback."

The Australian selection panel of Geeves, Beetson, McCarthy and Bob Fulton will name the 23-man Kangaroos squad on October4, the day after the NRL grand final.

Melbourne fullback Billy Slater, who played wing for Queensland in the State of Origin series, requires groin surgery at the end of the season but there have been few other players declare themselves unavailable.

However, McCarthy said he expected more players to be ruled out before the finals series concluded and he declared most positions wide open.

"At the moment we've got about four of every position, so some really good players are going to be left out but that could change very quickly," he said. "We've picked five players in the train-on squad so far, and we'll just keep adding to them as teams get knocked out of the finals."

Meanwhile, Bennett defended his decision to impose a season-long media ban on Hunt, who handled himself well when he accepted his award at the Dally M ceremony.

"No matter how level-headed you are, he's still young and expectations kill these kids," he said. "The higher you put them on the pedestal, the more they read about themselves and the more they hear about themselves, the greater the expectation becomes.

"I'm just trying to ease him through that period without a great fall because it will really affect us if that does happen and it will really affect him. Sometimes it takes 12 or 18 months or two years to get back on track and I'm just trying to avoid that happening as much as I can."

In other finals news, Canberra forward Ruben Wiki has little chance of recovering from an ankle injury in time for tomorrow's must-win clash against the Sydney Roosters. "I've been doing a lot of rehab but I think time is going to beat me," Wiki said.